Darren Soto wins in Congressional District 9

By a margin of 16 points, state Sen. Darren Soto beat his challenger Wayne Liebnitzky in Florida’s Congressional District 9 race to become the first Puerto Rican member of Congress from Florida.

The district encompasses all of Osceola County and parts of Orange and Polk counties with a large Latino base. The state Division of Elections reports Soto, a Democrat, beat Liebnitzky, a Republican businessman and veteran, by a percentage of 58 to 42 percent.

The seat was previously held by U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, who left the position to run against Patrick Murphy for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate.

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This article appears in Nov 2-8, 2016.